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Sound intentions
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
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Hamsavahini’s group veena recital and Anirudh Bharadwaj’s flute concert delighted listeners.
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Impressive Anirudh Bharadwaj
Of all the musical instruments, the veena is said to be closest to the human voice, as ample scope exists to bring out various gamakas. Nevertheless, to bring out the rich musical conception of Tyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis through this in
strument, a high degree of technical skill is required on the part of the artistes. Hamsavahini, a group of five veena artistes led by Delhi’s Prema Mallikarjun, did this exactly, the other day, during their recital of Pancharatna kritis on the veena. Gayathri Fine Arts organised this concert at the Triveni auditorium and the group rose to the occasion by putting up a delightful show that captivated the hearts of the rasikas.
Hamsavahini began the recital with a traditional “Sri Ganapatini” in the raga Sourashtra, followed by the Pancharatna kritis — namely, “Jagadanandakaraka” (raga Nattai), “Dudukugala” (raga Gowla), “Sadinchene” (raga Arabi), “Kanakanaruchira” (Raga Varali) and “Entharo Mahanubhavulu” (raga Sri).
Before commencing each Pancharatna, each artiste presented a very brief sketch of the raga through alapana and taanam. It was thoughtful of the group to do so. Prema Mallikarjun co-ordinated well and took along the other four veena artistes (her own students) with her, with utmost regard for sruti and laya.
Each veena having seven strings (including three tala strings), tuning all the thirty-five strings perfectly during the recital itself gives a kind of listening pleasure. The group did a good job and took utmost care to see that the tuning was perfect throughout the recital. The recital concluded with a melodious “Gitarthamu” in the raga Suruti.
On the whole, it was a neat and powerful recital that brought out the glory of the Pancharatna kritis. The other veena artistes were Geetha Mohan, Nalini Sampath, Uma Balasubramaniam and young Veena Venkatramani. Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam ably assisted the group. His understanding support throughout enhanced the overall outcome of the group’s recital.
Early slot
In a recital that preceded the veena recital, master Anirudh Bharadwaj too captivated the hearts of the listeners through his impressive flute recital. Whether it was the kriti presentations as such, or the manodharma aspects, Anirudh exhibited admirable maturity in handling these, within the one-hour time slot given to him.
While presenting Tyagaraja’s “Durmargachara” in the raga Ranjani, Anirudh brought the emotive aspects of this raga to the fore. He also presented a fine alap of this raga, and swaraprastaras that he presented towards the end were rich in creativity. He also handled well a composition of Papanasam Sivam, “Devi neye thunai” in the raga Kiravani. Earlier, he presented a good sketch of this raga. The niraval of a phrase “Alaimagal kalaimagal” from the charanam portion of the song and the subsequent swaraprastaras too were creatively handled.
Arvind Bharathi on the violin, T.S. Shriram on the mridangam and N. Harinarayanan on the ghatam ably assisted Anirudh in this recital.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
